According to the UK's network of 12 Public Health Observatories — which compile health data for the NHS on a yearly basis — Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham scored the lowest compared to the Strategic Health Authority average, while Richmond upon Thames, Kingston upon Thames and Kensington and Chelsea scored the highest.

Only a quarter of adults in Barking and Dagenham ate healthily in 2006-08 — the lowest in the Greater London Area — while that borough also had the highest estimated level of adult obesity, estimated at over a quarter. In contrast, nearly half of all adults in Kensington and Chelsea ate healthily and just over a tenth were obese. Kensington and Chelsea also had the highest participation in physical recreation, with a sixth engaging in physical activity 20 days out of every four weeks in 2008-10.

Drugs

In terms of drug consumption, Islington had the highest rate of hospital admission for alcohol-related harm in 2009-10 and also the highest rate of mortality attributable to smoking in 2007-09 — this might be why it also had the highest rate of early deaths from heart disease and stroke in 2007-09 and the fourth highest rate of early deaths from cancer, also in 2007-09. Meanwhile, it's estimated that over a fifth of problem drug users in Tower Hamlets used crack and/or opiates in 2008-09, with Tower Hamlets also having the highest rate of early deaths from cancer.

Life expectancy and mortality

The lenght of your life is a postcode lottery. There was a difference of nine years between Kensington and Chelsea (84.4 years) and Islington (75.4 years) between 2007 and 2009 for males, and a similar spread for females (89 years in Kensington and Chelsea; 80.5 years in Newham). In terms of infant mortality, Kingston upon Thames had only 2.36 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007-09, while Southwark had 6.87. If Kingston upon Thames were a country, it would have a lower infant mortality rate than Sweden, while Southwark would have one lower than Belarus - (get more useful UN population stats here).

Other indicators

Looking at the national average, London boroughs on a whole had fewer hospital visits for self-harm, more adults consuming healthy diets, lower rates of smoking during pregnancy, more breastfeeding mothers, lower incidence rates of malignant skin cancer and fewer obese adults. However, all but six boroughs had more new cases of tuberculosis than the national average, and all but five had a higher percentage of obese children under the age of 6. 18 boroughs had a rate of drug misuse greater than the national average, while 17 boroughs had fewer physically active adults when compared nationally.